A Real Good Toys Simplicity house being assembled.

Custom Doll House Assembly

By Mott’s Miniatures™ Inc.

Whether for adult collectors, gifts for children, or for commercial purposes, Mott’s doll house builders can do it for you.

If you are looking for tips on how to Assemble your dollhouse by yourself and have come to this page by mistake, just click on Building Tips in the menu above.

Basic Assembly	The first service we are offering to customers who purchase just about any doll house kit in our store is a Basic Assembly. We will put the basic house body along with floors, porches, and roofs, and in some cases dormers and interior walls. We find that if a customer leaves our store with something that looks like a house rather than just a box full of pieces, that they will get started on their project much sooner.
Assembly and Exterior Finishing Click on the camera to see pictures of houses that were built and customized at Mott’s.	The next level of service over and above the basic shell assembly is what we call Full Assembly. This includes taking the kit, assembling it, and completely finishing the exterior including the siding, shingles, paint, porch, railings, posts, spindles, brackets, foundation, brick/stone work, windows, doors, shutters, etc. Everything on the outside of the house will be done, but the interior will be left blank. There are some variables such as brick/stone work and any customizing, but basically we charge 100% of the kit price. That means, for example, that if the kit costs $100 you will pay an additional $100 for this service. There is a sur-charge for this service if you did not purchase your kit from Mott’s. Also, this price is for medium and upper-grade houses, not the budget ones. And remember, discounts or other offers are void if we are assembling your house.
Budget Doll House Assembly	Many collectors get their start in miniatures with those affordable die-cut houses (Greenleaf, Corona Concepts, Duracraft). There is nothing really wrong with these houses, it is simply that they are manufactured differently from regular houses to bring their cost down. That means that there are more pieces and more work involved in putting one together than a standard doll house. For that reason, we charge much more to put them together. Assembly prices here are about 200%-500% of the current retail price of the kit, for full shell only assembly, up to assembly with exterior finishing.
Modifying Your Doll House	Whenever we are working on your house and make modifications to your house such as adding or removing walls, adding or removing windows/doors, or changing the basic structure of the house there can and often will be a special fee. Sometimes referred to as “Kit-Bashing”, it is a service we provide on a regular basis. Usually the fee is under $10, often nominal or free if the modifications are slight (such as adding windows/doors). This is especially true when you buy the door/window/dormer from Mott’s and want it installed. You won’t know unless you ask! We no longer build houses from scratch using your plans, blueprints or pictures. We only build and/or modify existing houses and kits.

Electric Lighting.	One of our popular services is Electrical Wiring. Basic wiring consists of installing tape-wire systems in un-decorated doll houses. This runs anywhere from $12.00 to $15.00 per room for labor depending on the type and size of house and other factors. Materials are sold seperately and individual light fixtures and outlets can also be installed for an additional charge per fixture.
NOTES:	Please note that the prices shown below are labor charges for the work specified on brand new kits. These prices do not apply to kits that have been opened and pieces removed or missing, or to partially constructed houses.

Dollhouse Assembly and Exterior Finishing
Instructions: Use this form to obtain your own estimate of dollhouse assembly and exterior finishing services. Follow the simple instructions on the lines below.
1	Print this page and fill in the boxes below with a pencil.
2	Enter the full current Retail price of your house kit in Box "A" at right. Do not use discounted or special prices, only the current manufacturers retail price.	$	A
3	On a separate piece of paper, using the prices shown on our web site, and the instructions on the "How Much Will I Need To Buy" page, add up the full retail cost of all items you want added or installed on your house that are not included with the kit or shell such as shingles, rails, chimneys, or other items you want added. Please select from our web site. Enter that figure in box "B".	$	B
	On a separate piece of paper, using the prices shown on our web site, and the instructions on the "How Much Will I Need To Buy" page, add items such as paint, glue, stain, or dye you want added. Please select from our web site. Enter that figure in Box "C".	$	C

4	Add lines A, B and C and enter that figure on line "D". This is and estimate of your materials cost.	$	D
5	Now you need to find out the manufacturer of your kit.
6	For budget kits manufactured by Greenleaf, Corona Concepts, or other budget die-cut houses multiply Box "A" times 5 and enter that figure in Box "E". For medium grade kits such as Duracraft Country Dreams Collection and Batrie, and for all Log Cabins, multiply Box "A" times 1.5 and enter that figure in Box "E". If you have the Real Good Toys Queen Anne Victoria, multiply Box "A" times 1.25 and enter that figure in Box "E". If your kit or house is made by any of the medium-upper grade lines such as New Concept, Celerity, G.E.L., Lawbre, HJB, Houseworks, Walmer Collector or Walmer Lilliput, simply take the figure from Box "A" and enter it into Box "E".	$	E
7	Special Labor Conditions. If your house is a front-opening house or has any hinged panels, then multiply Box "A" times .25 and enter that figure in Box "F". If not, leave blank.	$	F
8	If you purchased your kit from someplace other than Mott’s, take the figure from Box "A" and enter it into Box "G". If you purchased your kit from Mott’s then leave this line blank.	$	G

9	Sub-total lines E, F and G and enter that sub-total in Box "H". That is your estimated Labor cost.	$	H

10	Add Lines D and H and enter that figure in Box "I". This is your estimated total for labor and materials.	$	I
	Please be aware that these prices are for basic assembly and exterior finishing only. They do NOT include ANY interior or electrical work, shipping or crating charges, or any custom work. Also, these are general prices for assembly and exterior finishing services from January through October. Mott’s reserves the right to charge rush fees on assembly orders from November through December 15. Mott’s usually does not take assembly jobs between December 16 and January 1st. If we do accept an assembly job during this period the rate will be substantially higher. Length of time needed for assembly and exterior finishing work can take 2-4 weeks plus shipping time from the time we receive the kit or house, depending on work load and time of year.

Interior Finishing

Another service offered is the Interior Decorating and Finishing. This can be any and all types of interior work from painting, staining, wallpapering, installing carpet, custom fireplaces and book-cases, ceiling treatments, installing hard-wood floors, tile floors, and all types of interior work. These services are estimated on an individual basis.

For a standard basic room decoration including installing flooring, wallpaper and to cover the ceiling will run about $25 per room for the labor only. If you want special design flooring or custom wainscoting an extra charge will have to be estimated. (Chart at bottom is for additional fees over and above the basic $25.00 per room). Remember, all prices on this page are for Labor ONLY and do NOT include the cost of any materials.

Additional Fees For Interior Decorating & Finishing

Description	Cost Extra Per Room
Laying Hardwood Floor (pre-fab sheet) in regular-shape room	$5.00
Installing Wainscot	$10.00
Laying Individual Tile Floor	$40.00+
Laying Individual Tile Wood Parquet Floor	$25.00+
Installing Mouldings, Baseboard, Chair-rail	$5.00+
Wallapering rooms with gables, dormers or vaulted ceilings.	$5.00+
Installing wallpaper or flooring in odd-shaped (non-square) room	$10.00+
Painting, wallpapering, staining, etc.any staircase	$10.00+

A word about Shipping:

We can assemble houses and them ship them to you any where in the world but once most house kits are assembled they can no longer be sent via UPS and must be shipped via freight truck and/or ocean freight, or Federal Express Air Freight.

You can expect to pay a minimum of about $100 to $250 (on up) to ship an assembled dollhouse. Why? Because that is what freight companies charge us. Part of the fee is for packing. We charge about $40 on average to pack a house, which just covers the cost of the box and bubble wrap. The rest goes to the freight company. Many small houses (up to 4-6 rooms) can be sent UPS. But larger houses, houses with extensions and/or large porches often have to be sent via Freight Truck. For houses that are too large to be shipped via UPS or FedEx we will, on behalf of the customer, request delivery via Craters and Freighters who will pick up, crate and ship your house to you.

Email to the Mott Miniatures

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Mott's Miniatures & Dollhouse Shop^TM, 2471 E. Orangethorpe Avenue, Fullerton, CA 92831-5503

(714) 992-9068 fax Contact Mott's Miniatures

This page last updated December 28, 2007 22:37 pst. Please check back frequently for new additions.